DeSoto Parish Library Launches New PastView Website

DeSoto Parish Library Launches Digital History Archive on New PastView Website

DeSoto Parish Library, LA – DeSoto Parish Library is proud to announce the public launch of its new online digital history archive, delivered through a newly launched website powered by PastView. The archive provides open access to a significant collection of historical newspapers, books, and local records documenting the rich social and cultural history of DeSoto Parish.

The new website is now live, with the archive’s debut timed to coincide with the same week as Valentine’s Day 2026, celebrating the community’s shared love of local history and heritage. The platform enables residents, researchers, genealogists, and students to explore decades of historical material from anywhere in the world through intuitive browsing and full-text search.

The collection includes newspapers, census records, cemetery and death records, school histories, church books, and other rare publications dating back more than a century. In total, the archive represents 345 individual collections, comprising 9,248 newspaper issues and bound volumes and more than 131,000 digitized images.

“This archive is more than a research tool - it’s a time machine into the lives, stories, and spirit of DeSoto Parish. We’re proud to bring history home to every citizen, right at their fingertips.”

 – Delbert R. Terry, Library Director, DeSoto Parish Library

Many of the original materials had previously been preserved on 35mm analogue microfilm. Digitization was carried out by C.F. Biggs, a specialist provider of large-scale archival scanning and microfilm digitization services. The reels and bound volumes were carefully digitized to ensure the integrity and structure of each historical item was maintained.

“DeSoto Parish Library made a forward-thinking decision to digitize its microfilm collection as a long-term preservation strategy. Microfilm digitization is a specialist service for us, and choosing the right digital platform partner was critical. PastView provided the structure and metadata support needed to ensure the collection remains accessible and preserved for the long term.”

 – Jason Prichard, Systems Administrator, C.F. Biggs

PastView delivered the end-to-end digital workflow for the project, including secure file ingestion, structured organization, detailed manual metadata creation, and optical character recognition. The result is a fully searchable, public-facing archive that supports long-term preservation and enhanced discoverability.

“Working on the DeSoto digitization project has been a privilege. Seeing historic newspapers become fully searchable and accessible online highlights the power of combining accurate metadata with text recognition technology. It’s rewarding to help transform local archives into resources the entire community can explore and rediscover.”

– Oliver Steel, Developer, PastView

The new digital archive safeguards fragile historical materials while significantly expanding public access, ensuring that DeSoto Parish’s history remains discoverable, searchable, and preserved for generations to come.

Read more and visit the archive here.